I believe it is nothing less than our responsibility as birdlovers
and ecologically minded individuals,
unless we wish to merely be voyeurs. Dogs have their place in streets
and parks, sure, likewise endangered
species wherever they land, regardless if possible. A question of
sensibilites and of course, the human question,
as that is what domestic dogs are all about, us.
Do your friends a favour an educate a dog owner about everything you
know, or remind any stray dog walker
in a national park that the ranger is just down the track 5 mins in
front or behind them.... works a treat!
ta,
ben currie
From:
Date: 15 February 2008 11:56:28 PM
To: "birdingaus" <>
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Bush stone curlew in Five Dock
Hello,
Tragic story, hardly atypical. As anyone with half an eye can attest,
this happens every ten minutes and more across the continent (and much
further afield of course). Sadly most twitchers are not there to
witness
such events.
Council environment officers being in a position to actually police
the
actions of dog owners is probably a fantasy that belongs deep in
the past,
if there ever was a time when such an idea was a possibility.
Dogs and their owners OWN the continent effectively: in the Hunter
region,
for example, they occupy every single space, from bushland to
parkland,
beaches to national parks and of course their own little “private”
off-leash areas. Nothing is "policed" and probably never was: yet
we have
people like Adrian Franklin and many more academics asserting that the
"eco-nationalists" are waging a war that might best be described as
"species-cleansing" based on their ecologicaly fascistic fantasies.
Funny old world.
cheers
Craig
Hunter region
Alistair et al
Perhaps in situations like this we should be more "proactive" (I
hate that
word). We could have alerted Council's environment officer when
the bird
turned up and alerted him/her to the danger of dog attack. Then a
ranger
may have been posted to police dogs off leashes (against the law
except in
some areas). Wise in hindsight but a lesson for the future maybe.
Apologies in advance to anyone who may have taken such action.
Paul
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